-Armed with Wild Willy's burgers (veggie with the works for me, yum!), fries and a vanilla milkshake, my honey and I had an impromptu date-night on the rocks by Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine. Afterwards: saltwater taffy at a quaint Victorian candy shoppe and a walk along Short Sands Beach; hopped on a playground swing and watched the evening fade.
-I tried my hand at bread-making. Herbed focaccia! Oregano, rosemary, sea salt. I clearly need to do more upper arm strengthening because 10 minutes of kneading is really kinda tough! I don't think I let the dough rise for long enough, however, because it came out a bit chewy and dense, like a slightly-stale soft pretzel. Tasty, but definitely not focaccia quality. Those yeast organisms are tough to please.
-I finally canned the blackberries I picked from the fields outside my farmhouse apartment last year...they have been sitting idly in the freezer, waiting for me. After mashing some of them to extract their jewel-colored juice, I combined the remaining intact berries with the juice, sugar, cinnamon, lemon and framboise (raspberry-flavored liqueur) and canned them. The result: a tasty fruit topping for pound cake, cheesecake or ice cream, and the leftover juices for mixed drinks.
-More sock knitting. I am beginning to fear this will be The Year of the Sock. I have a few more "orders" which will likely take me right up until Christmas gift-making season. Behold! My first pair, finished a couple months ago, and you can see the color patterns do not exactly match...long story. But they are soft and warm!
-Despite an on-off relationship with my black thumb, I am trying to cultivate indoor plants. *cry* I am sad about our downtown apartment not having a place for a garden. There is something so soothing about going outside in the sun each day, checking on the plants's progress, watering, pruning, collecting the fruits of my labor and using them for dinner. I will be hitting up the farmer's markets hard this year to can the items I like. But! In the meantime, I am successfully growing a jade plant, technically a succulent. It began as a cutting and a few leaves from my friend's 30-year-old jade. I cut off the dead, woody sections, stuffed them in some potting soil on a south-facing sill, and voila! It is already beginning to grow. It cheers me up, knowing that someday I will own a place with a little garden patch to dig around in. I hope my jade outlasts me.
-Who knew the water would still be so cold up here? I tried to surf on Monday, but without gloves and booties, I lasted less than 10 minutes. Body core was warm thanks to my awesome new Xcel suit purchased by my man, but hands and feet were numb within minutes. I attempted to get into the ocean and was pushed back on my butt by not one, not two, but three waves (that were pathetically small but somehow still washed over me quite powerfully). After that nasal cleansing, I got back out and sat on the rocks.
Two women who seemed relatively inexperienced paddled out near me, and I was encouraged to try it again. I got past the break fairly easily and tried to remember what Amie taught me last year. The board is a little too long and the sweet spot is hard for me to find to maintain balance. I was tippy but I tried to move my arms and paddle around--also to find out I have lost most of my upper shoulder and arm strength since last year due to not doing any yoga! I have a lot of catching up to do. Suffice it to say, after about five minutes of paddling, I decided I was too cold and paddled in without catching any waves. Day one for surf 2010 was a "reacquainting" day, I suppose. I still have sand in my ears...but I'm looking forward to getting in the groove and learning lots this year. Nowhere to go but up on the learning curve from where I'm at right now!
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